Process for conditioning textile materials



May 31, 1,927. 3,630,78

w. L. CONRAD PROCESS FOR CONDITIONING TEXTILE MATERIALS Filed May 25, 1923 FINISHING APPARArus WASHING- CHEMIC BATH WASHING- SOUR BATH WASHING INVENTOR W/LL/AM L. COW/M0 fzwwa ATTORNEY BOILING:v

This invention process of conditioning material.

WILLIAM L CONRAD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

rnooass non conmrromne Taxi-inn MATERIALS.

Application filed May 25, 1923. Serial No. 641,326.

relates to a method or or finishing textile he terms conditioning and finishing 5 as used in thls art lnclude several operatlons,

such, for instance, as

boiling, washing, subjccting to a sour bath and chemic bath, piling, and so forth.

The methods now in use textile material consume a large labor expense, product is not uniform.

This invention provide a continuous process ing textile material whereby and labor required will be reduced to sumed for conditioning much time, involve and the resulting has for its salient object to for conditionthe time cona minimum and the resulting product Wlll 'be uniform.

Another object of finishing cloth whereby travel continuously from the the white bins or drymg apparatus without interruption or han vide a process the goods will first keir to of the invention is to prodlm Further'objects of the invention appear from the following specification taken in connection with the drawings, which form a part of this application,

which the and in process is illustrated diagrammatically.

The invention a plurality of ing these units process involving the combination of separate units and that the material will move briefly described conslsts of a so combincontinuously from the time it enters the first unit until the time it leaves the last unit.

The essential elements involved in the process are the keir, such as a sour bath, pile or stack, chemic or suitable chemical solution other suitable bath and a pile or stack receiving the material In the other bath.

from the chemic or embodiment of the invention illustrated, material is led successively through a keir,

washing machine,

treating bath, piling mechanism, washing machine, chemic or other bath, piling mechanism and washing machine. .These various units are so constructed and the time required for arranged that the finishing process is reduced from a relatively long period of time, which is required under the processes now in use, to a relatively short period of time and the labor saved, particularly in the sour and chemic piles,

in one plant Further details of the inventual practice dollars a year. tion will appear tion.

has amounted in acto. many thousand from the following descrip- The material from the gra room, or, in

1,074,568 to Gantt granted September 30,.

1913. This apparatus is used for boiling the material and preferably contains a caustic.

solution. The apparatus is designed to carry on theprocess continuously, that is to say to operate on fabric in the open width or rope form,-which is continuously fed into the keir in-which the liquid is circulated and continuously withdrawn therefrom and the apparatus is constructed in such a manner as to accumulate enough of the fabric between the entering and leaving points to allow the fabric to be subjected to the action of the liquid for a suflicient length of time to accomplish the cleaning thereof. As described in the patent, the in the keir in zigzag folds and streams of water are directed against the fabric through pipes 10 thoroughly scouring the fabric as it enters the keir, these streams being caused to permeate thefabric before it sinks beand. the web or rope is continuously added fabric is deposited to the top of the pile and is simultaneously withdrawn from the bottom of the pile around guide rolls 12 and 13 and passes between squeezing rolls or wringers 14:.

If desired, a plurality of keirs may be combined and the fabric may beled from bone keir into another.

From the keir A or from the last keir of a set, if a plurality is used, the fabric is led through the wringers or squeeze rolls 14 and into a washing machine B of any suitable construction wherein the fabric is washed. From the machine B, through wringers or rolls 15 and into a vat C containin a suitable bath such as a sour bath of Sn phuric acid, or treating or bleaching liquld. V In the processes now most generally used, the material is led from the bath into a bin where it is piled to remain for several hours to give sufficient time for the bath to complete itsaction. This method is very objectionable because of the lack of uniformity in the piling by the boys, of the soilingkof the goods by dirt and of the expense of e boys wages.

In the present process, however,

the fabric passes other suitable the fabric from the bath vat C passes through squeeze rolls 16 and the piling is automatically accomplished by means of a stack or piling apparatus D, which is illustrated and described in detail in Patent No. 911,560 to Gantt granted February 2nd, 1909. This apparatus comprises a vertically disposed shaft 20 communicating at-the bottom with an inclined chamber or chute 21 whose delivery end is turned or curved upward and may be parallel with the feed shaft or may be inclined toward it. The material introduced into'the shaft or piled therein is delivered to the receiving end of the chute and as the pile in the shaft increases the accumulated material will by its own weight be carried forward and upward through the chute and at the place of delivery the end of the web or rope introduced in the stack will be at the top and may be withdrawn freely without tangling. The chute may be Watertight and if desired, a solution may be caused to circulate therein. The sectional area of the stack should be governed by the weight ofthe fabric that is to be treated and light weight fabric may be piled in astack of smaller sectional area than heavy fabric. If desired, several of these devices may-be placed in tandem, the fabric being continually withdrawn from one machine and piled into the next'to give thenecessary I time for chemical action.

The squeeze rolls 16 extract the. excess liquor and the air contacts with the fabric as it passes into and through the stack D,

completing the oxidizing or other chemical action on the fabric.

The devices are designed to handle fabric either in rope or open width or web form and operate equally as well on both.

By utilizing stacks of the type described, the time consumed for souring or otherwise treating and as later described for chemicking or further treating the fabric is greatly reduced and Whereas the present pile system consumes many hours, the goods is suficiently acted on by the sour or chemic or other treating liquor in a very short period of time.

From the piling device D, the goods is led to a washing machine E of any suitable construction and from this machine passes through wring-er or squeeze rolls 22 into a vat F contaimng a chemic solution, such as chlorine or other suitable solution. From this fact the fabric is led through squeeze rolls 23 into a stack and piling device G exactl similar to the device D hereinbefore escrlbed. In this stack G the goods 1s acted on by the chemic or other treating liquor remaining in the fabric and from the stack the material is led into a washing machine H. From this machine the material passes through squeeze rolls 26 to be dried or otherwlse treated, if desired.

rope or open width form.

scribed eliminates entirely the ordinary sour or chemic piles and attending boys with;

their dirt, damages and Wages and prevents any possibility of the goods remaining for an undue length of time at the bottom of the sour or chemic bin. Moreover, every portion of the material passing through the piling devices will receive the same action and be subjected in the same manner and for the same lengthof time to the action of the sour or chemic bath. Therefore, the goods will be uniformly treated. Any piling of the goods on trucks and transporting of the goods between the various chemical operations or the breaking of seamsis eliminated thereby reducing the labor cost and making available for productive work a large amount of fioor space usually occupied by the trucks. It will also be noted that the use of the keir as described makes possible continuous movement of the goods and insures a thorough and uniform cleansing thereof.

Particular attention is called to the fact that goods or material in open width or rope form can be treated in the apparatus described and the term material as used in the claims is intended to include material in Although one specific embodiment of the invention has been particularly shown and described, it will be understood that the invention is capable of modification and that changes in the construction and in the arran'gement of the var1ous cooperating parts may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention, as expressed in the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. A method of conditioning textile mate rial which consists in continuously pro essing the material with the same end a ways foremost successively through a boiling vat or' keir containing a cleansing solution in which the material is permeated with the cleansing liquid submerged in zigzag folds and withdrawn, passing the material through a washin machine, extracting the surplus washing uid from the materlal, then saturating the material in a bath of bleaching liquor, extracting therefrom the excess liquor with which the material has been saturated, passing the materfilthrough a piling device byforce derived from the weight ofv the material, the material in its passage through the piling device being subjected to air bleaching, again washing the material, extracting the surplus liquortherefrom an% then saturating the material in a bath 0 neaoyree chemic or equivalent solution, extracting therefrom the excess liquor and again passing the material under force derived from the weight of the material through a piling device, where it is subjected to air bleaching, and again washing the material.

2. A method of conditioning textile mate rial which consists in continuously progressing the material successively through .a boiling vat or keir containing a cleansing solution in which the material is ermeated with a'cleansing liquor and with rawn with the end first entering the keir foremost, then passing the material through a washing machine, then saturating the material in a bath of bleaching liquor, extracting the excess liquor therefrom with which the material has been saturated, and passing the material through a piling device wherein it' is subjected to air bleaching, and again washing the material.

3. A method of conditioning textile material which consists in continuously progressing the material with the same end always foremost successively through a keir by continuously adding fabric to the top and simultaneously withdrawing fabric from the bottom of a vertical pile of fabric suspended in boiling caustic solution in the keir, pass ing the material throughsqueeze rolls and a washing machineand squeeze rolls, saturating the material in a sour bath of bleaching liquor, squeezing the material to extract therefrom excess liquor, passing the material by force derived from the weight thereof through a piling device, the material passing through the stack being deposited in loose folds and being subjected to air bleaching, again washing and squeezing the material, saturating the material with a chemic solution, and extracting therefrom excess 1i uor, passing the material again through a pi ing device by force derived from the weight of the material where it is subjected to air bleaching and again washing the material,

4. A method of conditioning textile material, which consists in continuously progressing the material with the same end always foremost successively through a boiling vat or keir containing a cleansing solution, in which keir the material is permeated with the cleansing liquor and then withdrawn, extracting surplus cleansing liquor from said material and passing the material into and through awashing machine, then extracting the surplus washing fluid from the material and saturating the material in a bath of bleaching liquid, extracting from the material the excess liquor with which it has thus been saturated, passing the material through a piling device during which passage it is subjected to air bleaching, again subjecting the material to washing, extracting the surplus washing fluid therefrom and then passing the material into and through a bath of chemic or equivalent solution, ex-

tracting any excess liquor from the material and then passing thematerial through a piling device and then through a washing machine. r

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 22d daylof May, 1923.

WIL 1AM L, CONRAD. 

